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Swanage Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by Rumpole, Oct 10, 2012.

  1. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    Of course one day the Mk2 will be 'heritage' (is of course already) and the only question is whether there will be a suitable 'heritage' site where they can run.

    There already is - the Mid Norfolk Railway relies almost exclusively on Mk 2s and has been stocking up recently.
     
  2. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    Don't they basically run diesels most/all of the time too?
     
  3. 61624

    61624 Part of the furniture

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    They do at the moment, so the coaches arewell matched to the locos. Still a heritage line though!
     
  4. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    Swanage Railway remembers the fallen. 11.11.12
     

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  5. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    I'm hoping to visit the Swanage Railway on Sunday (18th). Does anyone know which locomotive will be in service please? <BJ>
     
  6. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    This weekend will be 6695.
     
  7. twr12

    twr12 Well-Known Member

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    6695 in service this weekend
     
  8. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    Thank you for the replies. <BJ>
     
  9. Linesidephotos

    Linesidephotos Member

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    The Mid Hants purchased the Mk 2s for the main line "Green Train" not for general use although they were used in service trains as the line wasn't blessed with miles of sidings. I don't think there is a Mk 2 on the line now West Coast purchased the entire train.
     
  10. cct man

    cct man Part of the furniture

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    I think there is one left at Alton David as a sleeping coach?

    I stand to be corrected on this though?

    Regards
    Chris:
     
  11. stephenvane

    stephenvane Member

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    As far as I remember, the Mid Hants started purchasing Mk2s in about 1990, well before the 'Green Train' was established.

    It wasn't uncommon to visit the Mid Hants in the 1990s, and see Blue/Grey and NSE liveried Mk2s in the normal service trains.
     
  12. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    I thought the MK2s were bought long before there was thought of using them on the mainline, and sold primarily because someone wanted to pay a fairly significant sum for them, and secondarily because they were not as popular with passengers. I think it is a pity we don't have a couple still. At least green is an authentic colour for them. (Be nice to have a set in NSE to match the 50, but that's dream land)
     
  13. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    Given that I mentioned it as being a possibility earlier in the thread, I just wanted to make clear in case anyone was expecting it that the idea of operating at weekends during January and February has been put on hold for this year. This is because of the major work that is being undertaken on the Swanage station canopy and the facts that sufficient platform space could not be guaranteed to operate trains, and the effect on the timescale of the winter works that having to clear the platform for the weekends would have. As such our last operating day until February half-term week will be this Sunday, 6 January.

    Motive power until Sunday will be 80104, which has been turned to face smokebox out of Swanage now that the turntable has been repaired and is back in action. The set will be 4 Mark 1's (hence we can operate the Standard facing that way, as to water with '5 on' in Swanage requires the loco to be facing the other way), and there is also the recently restored 6-wheel milk tanker on the set on the Wareham end. It looks a bit different, and has inspired a few of us to think of different train formations that we can try in the quieter times of the year.

    In other news, LSWR M7 No.53 has been in Herston Works for the last few months, and is making good progress. There are ordinarily a couple of members of staff up there each day, and a volunteer working party is being set up on Wednesday evenings. GWR 66XX No.6695 has also been withdrawn for winter work, which will include replacement of the life-expired valve liners. The replacement of the liners is set for the third week of January, and a working party last weekend made a start on preparation work, mainly removal of the valves, front framing, splashers etc. 34028 Eddystone is currently the spare loco, and 34070 Manston has been winterised.

    In terms of diesels, as the turntable is now working the 08 that had been stuck in the shed through the summer (D3591) has now been extracted, but is currently limited to Swanage station area only due to a recurrent AVR issue. It has been up to Corfe (I took my life in my hands one day and used it as my taxi to Dragons Bakery...), but until the fault is resolved it isn't worth taking the risk of it failing in section. Our other 08, 08436 is still in traffic and soldiering away, while 33 111 is currently stopped for some welding repairs. In addition, Fowler industrial 0-4-0DM 'May' has now been moved down to Swanage for its overhaul to continue, and it currently resides in the engine shed. Finally, 33034, the 71A Locomotive Group's forgotten 33, has recently been moved onto the loading pad at Norden and is being stripped for spares, following which it will be disposed of.

    As usual, any questions please do let me know.
     
  14. M59137

    M59137 Well-Known Member

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    Any news on any of the four DMU sets?
     
  15. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

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  16. buzby2

    buzby2 Well-Known Member

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    Appointment of General Manager
    The Board of the Swanage Railway Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Jones as General Manager of the Swanage Railway. Richard will take up his appointment in early April.
    Richard comes to the railway with a wealth of experience as General Manager at the Bodmin and Wenford Railway and Project Manager at the West Somerset Railway. Before that he was a mainline Driver and Guard/Train Manager and now returns to Dorset where he was previously a Mathematics and Numeracy Adviser with Dorset County Council Education Dept.
    The Interview Panel were unanimous in their selection of Richard for this important and strategic role in the development of the Swanage Railway.
    The Board fully confirms this appointment and will be fully supportive of the new General Manager. The Board is certain that staff at all levels will now welcome this appointment and will offer their support as Richard gets into his new role.
    Peter J Milford
    Company Secretary
    5th February 2013
     
  17. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    Apologies for the lack of updates for some time, however even though we have only been operating public trains over one week, that is not to say its been quiet!

    The main tasks that are ongoing this winter are long-overdue works to the buildings in the station site at Swanage; in particular the station canopy and the goods shed. The canopy works are progressing well, and some impression of the magnitude of the works can be seen on the railway's website at Swanage Railway News Gallery - Page 857. The need for significant welding repairs has been necessary, as well as shot-blasting the entire canopy and station frontage, and re-glazing the canopy, but this work is well on track. Starting this week has also been a project to re-roof the goods shed, which will both protect this historic building and also lead to much improved working conditions for our carriage and wagon staff.

    In addition to these, other projects are also ongoing around Swanage. The signalbox, completed in 2003, is receiving an overdue repaint, and piling work has started this week for a new engineering workshop opposite the Victorian engine shed at Swanage. Excavation works have also started on the other side of Northbrook Road bridge for the proposed site for the relocated Salisbury water tower, another project that is exercising many people's minds.

    Turning to the locomotives, much work is also being done on the operational fleet. Both 30053 and 6695 have been moved from the railway itself to Herston Works to simplify the winter works ongoing on these engines and improve the conditions for those working on them. Those who have been down to Swanage will be aware that the Works is not actually rail connected, so each of these movements require road transport at £750 each way; it will be appreciated that this is not therefore a decision that is taken lightly. As stated previously, 30053 is having an intermediate overhaul, retube and repaint; the bogie is now complete and back under the loco, the paintwork has been flatted down and is progressing, and retubing started during the regular Wednesday evening working party last night. 6695 is in the Works for valve liner replacement, relocation of the reverser quadrant in the cab (the tanks were new at restoration, and there is a suspicion that the quadrant is not quite positioned correctly, leading to incorrect valve events) and other bottom end works. The old valve liners are now out and the bores trued up, and Bryn Engineering will be returning shortly to fit the new liners. Once this is done, we can arrange for the new valve heads to be machined and fitted to the spindles, and look towards reassembly.

    Of the other fleet, 80104 is currently in traffic, with 34028 as the spare loco and also in use on those weekends in March where driver experience and lunch trains are running. 34070 is currently stopped for repaint, which should result in us having some very shiny locomotives in the season to come! Of the diesels, 33111 is now back in traffic following repairs, 08436 continues to soldier on and D3591 is stopped again with a persistent AVR fault. Restoration work continues in the locomotive shed on a Fowler 0-4-0DM, No.4210132 May, which although not appearing to have a great deal of use on the railway as it is now, has a significance in the preservation history of the line as the motive power for the first train in 1979.

    Looking towards the rolling stock, at the railway's Assets Group meeting last week it was advised that both Bulleid CK 5761 and Maunsell TO 1346 are progressing well, with the possibility that both could enter traffic towards the end of the year. Some of our more optimistic members asked about the possibility of a return at the Steam Gala in September, however as with all these things, they will be ready to join Bulleid SOBT 4365 when they are ready. On the wagon front, a new freight set has been made up for our 2013 Driver Experience trains, which hopefully will also give different photographic opportunities.

    There is another thread regarding the grant that has been received towards a Wareham service; I don't propose to touch on this in this thread, save to say that thoughts are obviously turning towards the methods of operating these services, and the need for improved facilities for the maintenance of our DMU fleet. Exciting times!

    I hope this is of interest; as ever, if anyone has any questions I am pleased to try to help.
     
  18. John Petley

    John Petley Part of the furniture

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    THanks for the update, Nick. One particular query - you mentioned that some work was being done to 6695. I had a run behind it last year, and when coasting downhill, the carriages seemed to be bumping around a bit. A member of staff at Corfe Castle mentioned that 6695 was rather prone to jolting the carriages to and fro, another person on this forum mentioned that they had had a bumpy ride behind this engine. Is this problem being fixed as part of the maintenace? While 6695 may not be a Southern engine, from the operational point of view, it seems a very useful engine for the Swanage line, so it's a shame if its usefulness contiues to be compromised by shaking the passengers around.
     
  19. Rumpole

    Rumpole Part of the furniture

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    The ride with 6695 is a combinations of a few issues; some hereditary to the design, some potentially brought about by the way the bottom end was set up when restored and some around locomotive handling (the engine seems to be particularly sensitive to being notched up too early and the reverser not being set correctly when drifting 'on the jockey'). Hopefully by getting the bottom end set up correctly, this will mean that people can be more certain around setting the reverser rather than having to play around with it so much and feel where the loco is comfortable, and reduce some of the 'shuttling' that is experienced.
     
  20. John Petley

    John Petley Part of the furniture

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    Thanks for the explanation. Nick. Over Easter, we're booked to be down in Sussex staying with my in-laws. I'm keen to get over to the K&ESR if they're using 6619. If I do manage a visit and a ride, I'll be interested to find out whether it too is prone to the same "shuttling" as 6695.
     

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